AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 1
“I’m selling thehouse. You need to be out by the end of the day,” my father said in the middle of Sunday brunch.
The chatter of the restaurant diners lowered to a dull hum. The fork I’d used to pierce a strawberry hung suspended over my plate, shining from the mid-morning sun coming through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
A waiter approached our table with a silver thermos in his hand. “More coffee?”
I nodded, giving him a forced smile.
As he poured, the aroma wafted up to me as the dark-brown liquid filled my cup. Steam rose from the top, promising clarity when it cleared.
Out the window, the ski slopes, which would be overflowing with skiers and snowboarders in the winter, were a lushly groomed green and filled with day hikers and mountain bike enthusiasts. Bikes hung on the side of the chairlifts as they slowly rolled up the cables to the top of the mountain, where the riders would disembark and ride the bikes down the terrain—only to do it all over again. All day long.
Summer in Jackson, Wyoming, was ending, and families were squeezing in last-minute vacations before their kids returned to school.
Across from me, my father was still talking, but I heard nothing after his first words.
My stepmom, Pamela, looked at me in my dazed state. “Camille?” She reached a beautifully manicured hand across the table and lowered mine to the table. I rested my fork on the side of my plate.
“Camille, honey, did you hear your father?” she repeated.
I looked to my left to see if cameras were hidden by the bar or behind the curtains. Nothing visible in the deer antler chandelier. Nothing visible in the wooden beams or the steel angles that held them together. I observed the restaurant guests and there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary.
A reality TV show about my father’s life, his baseball team, and his utterly gorgeous, much younger wife, would be just the thing my older brother would sign up for.
I shook my head. “I heard him, but I’m not sure I understood what he said. I think I just heard him say he was selling the house. What does that mean?”
Jazzy, my younger half-sister, didn’t even look up as she said, “Dad doesn’t want the house anymore. He’s buying a vineyard in Napa.”
I glanced at her, sitting to my right, and marveled how any teenager could cope in today’s world. Her nose had grown into her phone’s screen. She didn’t comprehend how significant this was to me.
I looked back at my dad and Pam. “In Napa? Surely, we can afford to keep both. Where am I supposed to live?”
The irony of my previous thoughts regarding Jazzy’s connection to the real world didn’t escape me. My father’s voice interrupted my wayward thoughts. “My dear, you’ve been living here rent free for six years. It’s time you were on your own.”
“On my own?” My eyes flitted from my dad to Pam. Jazzy never even looked up.
“I’m cutting off your trust until you get a job.” He shoveled a forkful of eggs benedict into his mouth.
“Now? How am I supposed to live?” A few people at nearby tables glanced my way, and I lowered my voice. “Can I have a few weeks?”
After a swig of his mimosa, my dad answered, “I’m sure you have what’s left of your last allowance. You’ll be fine.”
I turned pleading eyes to my stepmom. “Pam, what is happening?”
“Sweetie, you’ve been living here since you missed placing on the podium at the 2016 Olympics. You can’t stay here forever and not do anything.”
“I get that, but could I have a little more notice? I volunteer for things. I just finished the plan for the Sexy Men of Sports calendar, and the proceeds are for charity.”
My dad snorted. “Sexy men of sports. You spend my money. You want to contribute? Get a real job.”
Pam put a gentle hand on my father’s forearm to calm him down and said to me, “Camille, you’re a smart woman. You’ll figure something out.”
My eyes burned; I’d never thought my dad was disappointed in me.
“I don’t mean to whine, but I could have used a little more notice. Time to find a job. Time to find a place to live. What do I do? What about Betty Blue?”
“A horse that won’t get you $10 for one of her offspring?” my dad asked.
